The Destined Souls
by Kreliana and Alhazred
Summary: An alternate MGS2... the arrival of a strange being shows Snake and friends that they don't know the half of what's going on.


"Kain refused the sacrifice…" __

DISCLAIMER: Neither of these game series belong to us, we aren't making money off of this.

"Kain refused the sacrifice…"

Raziel leaped over Turel's telekinetic blast, violently slashing the Soul Reaver with every bit of malice he intended to direct onto Kain later.

__

"Those blind with rage are by destiny ensnared…"

"I'll kill you Snake, I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do," Liquid snarled, jumping for his brother. Snake dodged around his knife, patient for an opening. Liquid refused to give him one; rather, he tried to make Snake act carelessly himself. "You know, that girlfriend of yours in Alaska, she was quite… satisfying… before I let Ocelot kill her." Liquid lied. But it had the desired effect.

__

"The important thing is to choose life, and then live!"

"I know you Raziel," Mobius intoned, the light that illuminated the infinity sign on the floor giving him an odd glow. "I can help you pursue Kain…"

__

"Let me pass, Turel. I've enough blood on my hands today. My quarrel lies with Kain!"

"All of this and you still don't understand, Raziel," sighed Kain. "But then I should have bothered to look into time for when you'd have your moment of revelation. I had expected you to put it together by now. Perhaps you are not as clever as I gave you credit for."

---

"Be warned Raziel," the Elder stated, "once you cross this threshold, you are beyond my influence."

The reaver of souls didn't hesitate to step through the time warp that Kain had dived through. _You will not escape me so easily, Kain..._

The portal wasn't a long journey. It was almost like walking between two rooms, except for the immediate absence of company that Raziel experienced when he felt the Elder's presence leave.

But his new location was much more interesting. A light shone from an unseen source onto the floor, showing a design of the infinite figure eight in the stone. He didn't realize that he wasn't alone.

"Raziel," Mobius stated, grabbing the reaver's attention. "Redeemer and destroyer… pawn and messiah… welcome, time-spanned soul. Welcome to your destiny."

"What lunacy is this," Raziel demanded, taking a step back and pointing an accusing claw at the Time Streamer. "Why are you alive, soothsayer? I deny not that my own experience means there is more after death, but you…"

"Time is a funny thing, Raziel," Mobius answered, starting to walk around. Raziel kept his eyes on the streamer, but Mobius didn't say anything else until he was standing in the light that Raziel had walked into. "It can guide us, manipulate us… even help us cheat death."

Past Mobius, Raziel noticed that he had missed the flaming pot suspended from the unseen ceiling in the light. Or had it just appeared there now?

"I know you, Raziel," Mobius intoned, "I can help you find Kain."

"Do not play games with me, sorcerer! If you wish to speak, do so. But I have enough to deal with listening to Kain's absurd speeches!"

Mobius seemed to ignore him. "I once told Kain that I have all the answers if you have the questions. He should have asked me about the Unspoken, but no… pray, Raziel, what are the questions?"

"Enough of your babbling, where is Kain!"

Raziel was impatient, but Mobius simply smiled. He raised an arm and pointed to the side. Raziel turned head to look, and found yet another sudden appearance. This time, a new light illuminated an opening into a corridor.

"The first step to you former master is down there, fallen one. I warn you; you have much to go through in your quest. And you will need this."

Mobius closed his hand and opened it, revealing a small, dark purple rune. He offered it to Raziel.

The reaver reached with his right hand for it, but to Mobius' surprise, he didn't take it. Instead, Raziel moved his hand forward and brought the tip of Soul Reaver to the streamer's neck

"I have been executed, manipulated, betrayed, and disfigured in what is, to me, a very short time span, soothsayer. If you betray me, you will come to regret it!"

Without another word, Raziel snatched the rune from Mobius hand without even asking it's purpose, as if his words forced away any ill intentions the streamer might have had.

"I will tell you when to use it," Mobius shouted as Raziel stalked into the corridor. Past the entrance, it looked like the hallways that led from the caves and into Mobius' time machine in the first place.

The reaver of souls soon came to the end, and found another hole in time like the one he'd followed Kain through.

"Step through the portal, Raziel. I warn you, it will not be open from the other end, but if you are defeated on the Spectral plane I will ensure you are drawn here as the Elder did for you before."

Looking around, Raziel realized Mobius must have been keeping track of him. It wasn't the same as when the Elder had followed his journey. The old being gave him a sense of company, like he wasn't alone, but Mobius seemed only to watch.

"Very well," he agreed, only now noticing the rune had disappeared from his hand of it's own volition, ready for Raziel's thoughts to bring it back.

Soul Reaver shining from his arm, Raziel stepped through the portal.

---

__

Not now, not now…

Trying desperately to ignore the ringing in his ear, Solid Snake pressed himself against the wall and forced himself to be deathly quiet. His support at FOX HOUND Headquarters was invaluable, he was the first to admit, but when there were armed guards walking behind his hiding spot, they really needed to shut up.

The floor suddenly lurched substantially under his feet, sending him off balance. Snake heard the door close as the guard left just before his foot tapped onto the floor to steady his balance. The storm was a rough one, and the boat wasn't the steadiest in the world. Of course, that made it the perfect vessel to smuggle a Metal Gear on without being suspicious.

But it didn't stop the myriad of United States intelligence officers that gave reports to FOX HOUND. This was the first time Snake went in specifically for Metal Gear hunting, but with Ocelot selling the Alaskan test data to every country with money to spend, he had a feeling it wouldn't be his last.

"What were you doing Snake, taking a shower," Naomi Hunter chided from her end of the Codec.

"Very funny, Doctor," Snake replied. "What's going on?"

"Well I thought you might like to know that you're approaching the mainland," Naomi answered in her trademark battle-of-wits tone. "The turbulence you're likely feeling right now isn't from the storm at all, really, they've started Metal Gear up and our satellite is showing it taking a few first steps."

"Great," Snake grunted in acknowledgement. "Colonel, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Roy Campbell switched on. "If you're thinking that they plan on walking Metal Gear right off, then yes, I am. You've got to stop them Snake, fight Metal Gear hand to hand again if you can't stop the boat, but don't let them deliver that thing!"

"Right, right," Snake acknowledged, not thrilled with the prospect of battling another Metal Gear directly again. But that only drove him to stop it some other way. "Otacon, you designed the thing, if they've got it up and running, can I still sink it?"

"Well, as long as they haven't modified the original design," Otacon answered, "Rex can't last in water long enough to be retrieved if it's sunk in the oceanic drop off. Naomi thinks you've only got ten minutes at best before you're over shallow water though."

"That's all I need," Snake answered, hoping he wasn't overestimating himself. Knowing he was at the inner hull, Snake reached into one of his pockets and pulled out an explosive charge. He armed the explosive and hid it under the hull's protruding I-beam, directly at a weld point, before dashing down a staircase to the lower deck.

He wanted to set his highly powerful charges to open a long row of holes in the boat's side so the crew couldn't seal off the breeches in time. He stuck another charge on the floor of the lowest deck, and for good measure placed an extra one right above it on the ceiling so the incoming water would have more space to fill.

The guard that Snake had hid from earlier was standing where he wanted to place another charge, and he didn't have time to dispose of him by doing anything fancy.

With time of the essence, Snake dove past the doorframe that opened into the guard's post and extended his arm. A single shot from his silenced pistol pierced the air, putting a hole into the guard's head before he knew what hit him. Standing up quickly, Snake dashed through the door and through the corpse back through the way he came before placing the charge. The dead guard would draw attention away from it if anyone happened by.

Re-tracing his steps, Snake climbed a few decks and placed his last charge above the waterline as a distraction. That done, the FOX HOUND agent hurried to the deck, planning on jumping overboard. By his count he had about six minutes left, plenty of time to swim a good distance away and blow the charges.

The rain hit Solid Snake like hail. The wind was blowing far too fast for comfort and the sky was gloomy, but it wasn't overly cold. He'd have trouble staying quiet to sneak around to the other side, but the howling wind would blot out his steps.

As he ducked under the windows of the bridge, Snake couldn't help but notice what was on the bow of the ship. Metal Gear stood it's full height, it's torso moving a few feet every now and then, the pilot obviously getting a feel for the controls. The machination's right leg took a step forward on the deck, sending a tremor through the boat once again.

Snake lost his balance when the deck shook under him from being so close to the source, and he reflexively pushed himself up to balance his weight more evenly, still fixated on Rex. He had, however, forgotten that he had been crouching down to avoid a window, and his moment of awe at seeing the huge Mech out in the open storm had cost him his stealth as soon as someone on the bridge looked at the shape moving at the corner of their vision.

Snake refrained from cursing himself when an alarm rang on the boat. He refrained from thinking that he was getting too old for this as armed guards rushed out from the bridge and below decks, boxing him in on the small walkway. He refrained from thinking he could win in a firefight like this, especially when he noticed Metal Gear pivoting toward his general direction.

So, before the guards could settle around him, he hopped forward. As his foot landed on the guardrail, he pulled the remote detonator for his charges out of another pocket. As he pushed off of the rail and toward the ocean, he could hear guns cocking behind him, and he squeezed he remote's trigger.

The guards didn't get a shot off before the charges blew. The ship violently rattled, more so then when Rex took it's steps. Snake didn't have a lot of push to clear the boat, but the charges on the bottom had already blown and they wouldn't catch him underwater.

It was the one he'd planted above the waterline that became a problem, and had been the reason for his wish to sneak to the other side of the boat. He'd fallen past the charge before it blew, but just before he hit water, a chunk of debris collided with him on the way down.

The water felt like a sea of bricks as Snake hit. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find an iota of energy in his body to swim, and the pain searing through his back and head didn't help.

__

I'm getting too damn old for this… Solid Snake thought before he passed out.

---

"Where is this, Mobius?"

Raziel looked around. His new location was a corridor made entirely of metal, with a precision look that made Melchiah's mechanical Necropolis look primitive. The light came from machinations lining the ceiling that he didn't recognize, but it seemed like there was a lot of it. In the glow of the Soul Reaver, the metal used to make the walls shone enough detail for the reaver to see that not only was the corridor precisely built, the metal itself was precisely shaped and fitted in segments.

"You are bound to recognize nothing, Raziel," Mobius' voice sounded. "You are in the far, far future. Much has changed between your time and this one."

Deciding Mobius made some sort of sense, Raziel opted to explore. After a quick look behind him to make sure he was still alone, the reaver started to plod in the direction he was facing. The Soul Reaver drew into his hand, leaving only the energy around his arm and a much smaller amount of light.

The small lens rigged discreetly into the wall just above the floor eluded his sight, as did the laser beam it projected. Raziel only broke the beam for a second, but it was enough for the laser to realize that what had just passed through it did not have an authorized DNA code.

"Snake," Campbell shouted, not caring that Snake's Codec was in his ear and therefore projecting his shout right into his old friend's head. "Damnit Snake, answer me! Sn…"

The soldier's voice suddenly cut off. Naomi and Otacon looked at him to see what was wrong as his head turned. He pointed toward the monitor behind them. 

"What is _that?_"

"Uh oh," Otacon foreshadowed, seeing the marker on the facility map that displayed where an unauthorized person had crossed a DNA reader. Not long after, another one went off further down the corridor.

"Holy shit," Campbell exclaimed, spinning back to his command station. Without sitting down, he reached under the front-most keypad and pressed the hidden button. A dull _beep _sounded from the floor-plan display, and the words "Silent Alarm" began flashing at the bottom of the map. Not pausing, Campbell snatched his phone and pressed the auto-call for security.

"Commander? Campbell. We've got an intruder, second floor. See it?"

Another marker had been tripped, this one in a different corridor off of an intersection from the first.

"Looks like one. No, we calibrated the sensors to avoid another rat incident. Yes, I want him alive if possible. If it comes down to this floor I'll join you. No, take all your men, I'll watch the scanners."

He hung up.

---

Snake really didn't mind when his vision and hearing left him. The darkness was oddly relaxing.

It was when he couldn't breath that he started to worry. But no matter what, he still couldn't move and pull himself from the watery tomb. _Too damn old for this…_

A violent, jerking motion made Snake want to look up, but he couldn't. Something was holding his head, and it was _pulling._

Involuntarily, Snake inhaled very large breaths of air when his head rose above the water. Another grip clamped into his arm, and the two sets of three prongs hoisted him out of the water and onto the rowboat.

Now in man's natural habitat again, Snake found his senses returning. He still couldn't move, but his vision, blurry as it was, was coming back. His savior seemed to be a fisherman; he could make out a shape manipulating ores. The rain had died down, but it hadn't stopped by any means.

For what seemed like hours, the man rowed, finally shoving the small boat onto shore at a weedy beach. The man took hold of Snake once more, this time tossing him out of his boat and onto the sand.

"Hmmm… I hope you don't do that again, I never did get complete immunity to water," Kain reflected, staring at the light scorch marks that now decorated his arms. They had already begun to heal. "I'll be seeing you again, Solid Snake."

Kain laughed his evil cackle before he vanished into thin air.

---

Raziel found the corridors, for all their constructive marvel, a little annoying. He'd wandered down them for a few minutes and even made a few turns, but so far he'd seen nothing new. There were odd discrepancies that looked like doors in some places, but none of them would open.

Unbeknownst to the reaver of souls, FOX HOUND's security force was starting to file onto the floor from the elevators at both sides.

In Command & Control, Otacon set the display to show a standard grid over the floor plan. Campbell now held a walkie-talkie switched to the standard operations channel.

Campbell flipped the talk switch. "He just tripped the sensor in A-13."

Raziel continued prodding along, oblivious to the silent soldiers surrounding his position. He rounded another corner, and Campbell relayed the next laser break

"Colonel…"

The three of them whipped around simultaneously.

"Anyone there…"

Naomi recovered from her shock first and spun her chair around to the console. "Snake!? Where are you?!"

"Hell if I know," his reply came. "Sunk the boat, some guy dragged me to the shore. Can I get a pickup or do you want me… to soak on the beach all night?"

"Naomi, get a fix on his Codec and tell him we'll get him as soon as we can," Campbell ordered, raising the walkie-talkie again. "Commander, you're about to box him in, he's still going straight."

"Damn, what a headache," Snake felt the need to comment, fatigue evident in his voice.

"Just stay there Snake, we'll come get you as soon as we can, you might say we have a," Naomi looked back to the other two and the screen they were watching, "A bit of a problem."

"Problem? What do you mean, problem, am I getting a pickup or-"

"Sorry Snake, you're breaking up," she flat out lied, "we'll get you soon," she flipped the comm off and whistled innocently.

Campbell kept his eye on the display, hoping the next blip would come where he thought it would. His wish came true, and the intruder had taken another turn, effectively letting the soldiers surround him "Commander, he turned left. Grab him!"

Raziel was getting impatient. On the verge of demanding that Mobius tell him where to go, however, he received a shock. He hadn't given any thought of what the social order would be in this new time, but he was never expecting an ensemble of six strangely dressed humans, armed with weapons he didn't recognize, to jump around the corner ahead of him.

Raziel reeled back in a defensive position, raising the Soul Reaver above his head. But no sooner had he taken a step back then another group came behind him, led by a man with a smaller sidearm but a more important looking uniform.

"Freeze," he yelled, all of them training their weapons on him. Not long after that, confusion set in their faces. The population of the human citadel had bowed to him as an avenging angel, but these people looked at him like he was a desiccated corpse.

Of course, he was.

Raziel spun around again, sizing up his situation. They were waiting for his move, which was a mistake. His first thought was to abandon the material plane, but before he could do so, Mobius' voice rang in his ears.

"Now, Raziel," the old soothsayer sounded. "Use it now!"

Deciding he had nothing to lose, Raziel made a fist and released it, bringing the rune into his hand like Mobius had done. He held it out, unsure of what to do to make it 'work,' but he wouldn't need to worry.

The purple thing made a noise, almost a high squeal, before it exploded into a cloud of purple mist directly into Raziel's face. The reaver yelled in shock and then in horror as he felt his consciousness fade, something that hadn't happened in all the time of his resurrection. Desperately, he tried to return to the spectral plane, but he passed out on the floor before the shift glyph could perform the act.

---

Once Campbell arrived, he was slow in walking up to Raziel's unconscious body. He didn't relax his guard for a moment. The hall was still dark, so little could be seen. Campbell wouldn't be able to tell if the thing was truly knocked out, or using the oldest trick in the book to lure him in. Campbell looked at the body; it did not move. He kicked it; still no movement. Unsure of whether or not Raziel was dead, Campbell checked for a pulse.

"What the hell? He's freezing. It's like he's been dead for days." He tried to inspect the body further, but the lighting in the room did not permit him to do so, "Hey! Someone get a flashlight."

"I've got one, sir." A young soldier walked over to the Colonel and handed him a tiny black flashlight. The flashlight didn't give very good light, but it was enough for the others to get a glimpse of their enemy.

"What the hell _is_ that?!?" Campbell yelled as he stumbled away from Raziel.

"Sir, it…it looks like it's been dead for years," someone stammered.

"Good God!" Campbell stepped closer to the body, realizing something else. "It barely looks human. It has claws for hands, its feet are cloven, and where the hell is its skin!" 

By now the soldiers and Campbell were shaking, "Let's take this thing to Naomi. We'll have her perform an autopsy." The soldiers were reluctant to touch Raziel. They shook constantly, some even drew their hands back, as they went to touch the unknown blue corpse.

Campbell picked up his walkie-talkie, "Naomi, we're bringing something…interesting to you."

"What is it Colonel?"

"…I think it would be best to show you. Go to the infirmary, ASAP!"

"But shouldn't I…"

"I said to get to the infirmary!"

"All right."

Campbell's men hastily carried the ethereal being to the infirmary. They wanted to rid themselves of the body as soon as they could. Campbell pointed to a table in the far-left corner and ordered the soldiers to place the body on it. They scurried to the table, carelessly threw Raziel's body on top of it, and ran out the door. None of them bothered saluting the Colonel. It didn't matter, he didn't notice anyway. 

---

"99 bottles of beer on the wall," the now bored Solid Snake sang. He had been trying for over an hour to get a cigarette to light up, but every time he pulled a new one from the pack, either the light or the cigarette would fall victim to the relentless downpour. How he longed for his mind and body to be filled with the sweet effects of nicotine…

"Damn, this is my last one," Snake took the cigarette from the pack and hoped for the best. The best didn't happen. The tip of the cigarette was the first to get wet, then the filter, and finally the rest of it. Snake threw the lighter down in frustration, cursing it. 

"I hate New York," Snake looked around, "Dammit Colonel, where the hell are you?" Suddenly, the merciless pounding of the rain stopped. Snake looked up and shouted, "What the hell is this? Couldn't this have stopped before I ran out of cigarettes? Damn!" 

The sky started to clear and the stars were shining bright. Snake then decided to lie down and kill time gazing at them. The sand was wet and mushy, but Snake didn't care at this point. So peaceful was the night now, the weary soldier might even sleep for a little while.

---

Naomi walked into the infirmary wearing full scrubs. Campbell had just finished placing a sheet on Raziel's body.

"All right, Colonel, what is the meaning of this? It had better be good." Naomi asked while crossing her arms. Campbell realized that Naomi was irritated, so he wasted no time explaining what was going on and simply pointed at the covered body in the far-left corner. Naomi rolled her eyes and walked to the body. She quickly removed enough of the sheet to expose Raziel's head. She jumped back a little when she saw it. Campbell used that as his cue to leave.

"Interesting, this body has already started developing scar tissue." She pulled out Raziel's forearm next and ran her fingers across his extensor muscles, knowing the camera in the room would record her autopsy. Her specialty may have been genetics, but she knew something interesting when she saw it.

"Odd, there is no fluid this body either. It is as if he was burned to the point where his fluids evaporated," she took a moment to look at his face again, "I knew his burns were severe, but I didn't know they were _that_ severe. Hmmm, I wonder what I can expect to find in his thoracic and abdominal regions." Naomi then removed enough of the sheet to expose his rib cage. She then took her scalpel out of her dissection kit and gave it a quick cleaning of alcohol. 

"Lets see, I'll remove the top portion of tissue first, then I can use this saw for the sternum," Naomi spoke clearly before she took the razor's tip to the top of Raziel's sternum. In one quick swipe, half of the sternum had been cut through, "How peculiar. This is all the same type of tissue. There is no bone, muscle, or even discernable skin cells on this thing."

Beads of sweat poured down her forehead. _What can I expect to see on the inside?_ Her heart raced as she made another quick incision. The sternum was now broken. She carefully placed her scalpel on a tray next to her and used another tool to spread his rib cage apart. Once she could see inside, she stopped opening the rib cage. _No, I must be mistaken_. To her surprise, Naomi could find nothing inside of Raziel. No heart, no lungs, nothing. Out of curiosity, she stuck her hand inside of Raziel, almost as if to confirm what she was seeing. She was startled when her hand hit something hard. It was where the heart should be, but it didn't feel like an ordinary heart to her. She felt around the strange object and picked it up. 

"It looks like glass. What could this be?" Suddenly the object started spewing tiny bolts of electricity. Naomi threw it onto her chair and watched it lose its last bit of energy. Now that it had been separated from its host, it could no longer maintain itself and changed to a stone-like appearance, void of all energy. Naomi picked it up again and looked at it carefully. 

"Maybe this was the source of that body's energy. Mei Ling may want to take a look at this." Naomi left the infirmary for Mei Ling's lab. Along the way, she saw Otacon.

"Hi, Naomi. What's that thing?" Otacon said while pointing to Naomi's object.

"I don't know. I'm taking this to Mei Ling right now. I'll let her tinker with this, since she's good with electronics."

"All right, maybe I'll help her out later. Right now I'm going to the lounge to watch an anime or two."

"Honestly, Otacon, when will you grow up? You are too old to be watching kids shows." The two laughed.

"Very funny, Naomi. I'll see you later."

"All right, Otacon." Naomi continued to Mei Ling's lab, and Otacon to the lounge. 

Mei Ling's lab was a good-sized lab, but was cramped due to various objects spewed across the room. Mei Ling may have been a genius, but she was a major slob. This always perturbed Naomi. That and the Backstreet Boys music Mei Ling constantly blared. 

"Oh! Naomi," Mei turned down the music, "What's up?"

"Would you do me a favor, Mei Ling?"

"Sure, just as long as I don't have to go on a blind date," Mei Ling laughed.

"No, nothing like that. I want you to analyze this for me," Naomi then handed the object to her. Mei Ling gave her a funny look in return.

"Naomi, what is this?"

"I don't know, that's why I brought it to you. Otacon may be down later to help you discover whatever secrets it may have."

"Hmm, I'm sure I'll think of something."

"Thank you, Mei Ling. I'll be back later, right now I'm interested in this body Campbell found."

Naomi left to go to her lab, but when she got there, Raziel was nowhere to be found.

---

Snake woke up to the sound of a helicopter nearing his location. He quickly took out his binoculars to identify the origin of the helicopter. He was relieved to see PHILANTHROPY painted on the side.

"Finally, they're here,"

The pilot turned on a searchlight to help locate Snake, and when they did, a rope ladder was lowered to him. Once onboard, he used ever dirty word he knew to ask what took so long.

"Sorry, sir, we…"the copilot said.

"Shut the hell up!" Snake interrupted, "I don't want excuses." Snake sat in the back with two other soldiers. One of them shut the door, while the other handed Snake a blanket. Not only did Snake snatch the blanket, but also the soldier's cigarette from his mouth.

---

Back in the lounge, Otacon was watching one of his prized animes, Endless Waltz. He had been watching the movie for about half an hour when Wing Zero came onto the large screen TV. Just as the Gundam appeared before Otacon, Raziel appeared behind him. He crept behind Otacon, as his eyes glowed on the screen matching Wing Zero's.

"Wow," Otacon said, "I don't remember Wing Zero's eyes lighting up that much. Ehh, I must be tired." As he said that, a cold, stone-like claw came crashing onto his shoulder. Otacon's head snapped as he saw the disfigured Raziel.

Too frightened to scream or run at the sight of the jawless, open body, Otacon sat there as Raziel gurgled, "Need souls." The last thing Otacon remembered was being tipped back before he passed out.

Raziel knew he was in need of energy even as he covered his face with his shawl. What little he took from Otacon wasn't enough. He needed to recharge in the Spectral Realm, but his shifting glyph was missing. He could feel its power radiating not too distantly. He walked along the bright hallway until he came to a room with machinery he didn't recognize. What he did find a young woman poking at the glyph. As he trudged toward the glyph, the girl noticed his presence and turned to face him. Her eyes widened and she screamed in terror.

"My…glyph," he thought. He was standing to Mei Ling at this point. The Spectral Realm was within his grasp. Mei Ling fell onto her knees and started crying as he vanished right in front of her eyes, all of it simply too much for her to handle at once.

---

Snake had finally returned to FOXHOUND's base. "Finally, I can get some rest," he muttered. That feeling was short lived when he heard Mei Ling's screams. Snake took his SOCOM out of the holster and ran to Mei Ling's lab. When he got there, he saw a blue being vanish, then the sobbing Mei Ling.

"What the hell?" Snake put away his gun, and walked over to Mei Ling. He put his hand on his shoulder and asked if she was all right. She looked up slowly to see that it was Snake who was talking to her. She instantly clung to him, still scared to death, mumbling in her hysteria, words that didn't make sense. Suddenly, Naomi burst into the room.

"My God, what happened? Mei Ling, are you all right?" Naomi walked over to Mei Ling to make sure she was safe.

"Naomi, it… it wasn't human! It was looking for that thing you gave me."

"Not human?" Snake interrupted, "Mei Ling, are you sure?"

Suddenly, Raziel reappeared in the corner of the room. Mei Ling started screaming again, "_That's it! That's what I was talking about!_"

Naomi and Snake turned around to see Raziel. Alarmed by the ladies' shrieks, Raziel got into a fighting stance. This prompted Snake to take his gun out again with the laser pointed in between Raziel's eyes.

"Tell me, where am I," Raziel demanded.

"Please don't hurt us!" Mei Ling cried.

Snake asked, rather blaze, "who the Hell are you?"

"I…I can't believe it's still alive," Naomi's voice quivered as she spoke, "How is that possible?"

Raziel looked at his surroundings. He was starting to think Moebius was fibbing about this being Nosgoth's future; it was nothing like the world he knew. It occurred to him to actually _ask _for directions, "Tell me, have any of you heard of a vampire named Kain?"

"Vampires? Since when do _vampires _exist," Naomi laughed. Raziel growled at her, and Naomi shut her mouth. Down the hall, a faint groaning was heard.

"Oh man, I must have hit my head when I fainted. Heh, I must have imagined that thing I saw. Maybe Naomi's right; maybe I've been watching too many animes. Might as well go see if Mei Ling needs any help with that thing Naomi gave her." When he reached Mei Ling's lab, he noticed Mei Ling and Naomi behind Snake, and Snake had his gun drawn. 

"What's wrong, guys?" He asked. Naomi simply pointed to Raziel. Otacon snapped his head to the figure and saw the same person from before. A gasp and he was taking refuge behind Snake with the girls.

__

What a wimp, Snake thought.

"What kind of a man hides like a woman?" Raziel chuckled.

"Shut up! Just _give _me a reason to kill you," Snake ordered, in absolutely no mood for anything weird.

"With that little box? How amusing, do you really think that can kill me?" Raziel then raised the Soul Reaver, but before he could strike with it, Snake fired his SOCOM. The bullet hit Raziel between the eyes and sent him crashing into a shelf behind him. He sat on the floor for a moment, lifeless. Everyone had their eyes fixed on him, wondering if Snake had done the job. They were all shocked when he got up again. What would have killed a human merely gave Raziel a headache.

"Raziel, you must remember, the future holds many surprises."

Raziel hadn't noticed that only he heard the voice, simply because he recognized it and immediately wished he could get his claws around the speaker's throats.

"Moebius! Where are you, miserable wretch," the reaver yelled to the air, spinning once on his heels to see if the soothsayer had dared show himself. "How dare you doublecross me!"

"I have, in fact, aided you, Raziel," the voice went on while the humans tried to figure out why the odd creature in front of them was talking to himself. "You will know how in time. I apologize for the… side effects caused. In any case, I suggest you give the air a sniff…"

Raziel could magically smell like he could talk; though he hadn't had much use for the sense in the wastelands of Nosgoth. Nevertheless, he 'inhaled' a breath and almost fell off his feet at the scent that hit him.

"Can't be," he muttered, taking a step toward the humans, but no more, having no desire to be floored by the future's weapons again. The striking smell was coming from one of them, and after sorting it out in his thoughts, he pinned it down.

And he jumped backwards, right up to the wall.

"Turel?!"

---


End file.
